from a mental disorder which makes him obsessed with fear: fear of the
past, of the house, of the dead. He finally dies, "victim to the terrors
he had anticipated."
The way in which madness is projected in both stories is quite
similar as well. The short story and the movie both take place in a dark
and gloomy house, a "ghostly house" — "a mansion of doom," writes Poe. In
both houses there is the presence of a mysterious woman. For Poe, the
woman is Roderick Usher's sister Madeline who suffers from an undefined
illness, seems to die twice, and appears as Roderick's double. For
Hitchcock, it is the mother who is at first seen as a murderer and tyrant,
but who turns out to have been dead for years, and who lives only through
her son's insanity. The death of both women is a source of mystery and
horror. In both stories the woman is kept in the lower section of the
house — Madeline in a coffin and Mrs. Bates as an embalmed corpse. Other
narrative techniques tie the two tales: the dark and stormy night in which
death takes place, the dead birds which Norman Bates stuffed — Poe's most
famous poem is "The Raven" — the pond in which the House of Usher disappea
rs and the pond in which Norman Bates entombs the cars and bodies of his
victims.
It is fear or paranoia which guides the actions of the two madmen.
Roderick is a "bounden slave" to "an anomalous species of terror." He does
not understand himself what he fears, just as no one knows the nature of
his sister's illness. It is this paranoia which made him insane and which
causes him to die. He is unable to react against the events. His fear of
insanity is the reason for his madness. There is also a sense of
predestination or of something supernatural controlling him. He cannot
escape his fate. Norman Bates is also a victim of his fears which he
cannot avoid. "I think we're all of us clamped in our private traps," he
says. He killed his mother and her lover, and then assumed her identity.
His way of escaping his fears and his guilt is through violence. This
paranoia and madness is caused by the characters' isolation. Roderick
lives alone with his sister in a gloomy house. Norman is in complete
seclusion in the house of his dead mother. They are separated from the
world both physically and mentally.
Both artists are interested in the double aspect of human nature.
Roderick and his sister are essentially two sides of the same person. They
are twins and look identical. They die almost as one person. Poe shows
this double aspect by his description of the two, the "striking
similitude." Norman and his dead mother are an extreme case of double
personality. The mother half of Norman acts as his evil side, while the
other side seems completely normal. Norman is a seemingly shy and innocent
man — however this is just a front hiding the beast within. Hitchcock
expresses split personality through devices, such as mirrors.
The settings of the stories are very deceptive. A motel is
generally considered a refuge or a safe-haven for travelers. It provides
shelter and escape from the dreaded outdoors. Inside of this motel their
are many pictures of birds. Birds, beautiful animals free to fly away, in
this story - as in The Birds - are a symbol of evil and death. Poe is also
very illusory. He carefully depicts the House of Usher stressing the
fissure splitting the building — it seems on the verge of collapse.
Despite its unstable appearance it remains firm until the very end when it
suddenly sinks. These deceptions add to the effect of the stories,
enhancing the intense fright and suspense.
The last theme which is found in both Hitchcock and Poe is the
power of the dead over the living. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" and
in Psycho the dead triumph over the living. The short story indicates this
as Madeline brings her terrified brother with her when she dies. In Psycho,
guilt from the loss of his mother and her lover controls Norman's life.
The mother side of Norman completely takes over in the end.
Hitchcock and Poe share a common trait beyond these themes and
story-telling techniques — a love for solving mysteries. Poe is considered
the first to write mystery stories and Hitchcock is seen as the master of
mystery movies. The two artists develop a mystery throughout their two
works, "The Fall of the House of Usher" and Psycho. The two masters of
horror plan carefully every word. Hitchcock shot footage for one week to
achieve the perfect balance of suspense and terror in the "shower scene" of
Psycho. They leave the viewer in suspense until the very end when the
stories unfold. It is not until then that the audience understands fully
the disturbed state of the main characters and the twisted plot of their
stories.
There are many similarities between Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred
Hitchcock, in their themes, their methods for reaching the reader or
spectator, and their fascination with the human mind and its complexities —
their view of the world. The semblance of two of the most well known
masters of terror and suspense is striking — as seen in Poe's "The Fall of
the House of Usher" and Hitchcock's Psycho. Both men are fascinated by
mystery, by horror, by madness, by death.
